


16 – Freezing

by Banashee



Series: Keep Going (KeGo) December 2019 [16]
Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Arc Reactor Issues, Cold Weather, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Avengers, Established Relationship, Gen, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 17:28:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21822136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Banashee/pseuds/Banashee
Summary: It's freezing cold out, and the Avengers have some time off. Thankfully, they have a warm place and people they love, because most of them don't deal well with the cold.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Series: Keep Going (KeGo) December 2019 [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558123
Comments: 7
Kudos: 95





	16 – Freezing

**Author's Note:**

> This is part sixteen of this small writing challenge that @Banana_Ink and I cooked up.  
> Basically, we came up with 24 prompts, which means 24 stories for 24 days in december. A way to cope with NaNoWriMo trauma, but also something short, sweet and relaxed to keep up a writing habit without stressing too much.
> 
> Check out the prompts, and most of all @Banana_Ink as well! She will be writing for her BNHA AU.
> 
> https://banashee.tumblr.com/post/189288814786/keep-going-december-kego

**16 – Freezing**

A massive cold front has made itself home in New York for the better part of the week, and the chill that comes with it has settled deep down in peoples bones. Most places are closed, because no one wants to go out. Instead, anyone who can stays home, and they wrap themselves in blankets and drink anything warm they can get their hands on.

The residents of the Avengers Tower are no exception – even supervillians stay home, so they take the chance to do the same. Well, that, and the fact that... Most of them don't deal well with the cold, especially when they don't have to focus on a fight.

When Bucky opens the door to their bedroom, a wave of hot air puffs out and he quickly snuffles in, deposits the big thermos he's just refilled with tea on the nightstand and wraps himself back around Steve. Steve who runs hot most days but can't stop shaking when the temperatures drop. It reminds him too much of being frozen, of landing a plane in the arctic ocean.

Bucky knows this – and the others know, too. He himself is not a fan of the cold either, having spent too much time of his life either frozen in cryo or in the snowy abysses of Russia and other places he remembers in bits and pieces.

Even before that, they had many winters where there just wasn't enough money to pay the heating bill. Those days, they spend many nights holding onto each other in an desperate attempt to find a bit of warmth. It's been those days where Bucky was the most afraid of waking up one day and to find that Steve, small and sickly, didn't make the night.

This, amongst other things, is why he's glad that in the end, he did enter Project Rebirth – neither of them would be here now if that had been different.

The cold now is bearable, because they have each other, and a warm home. It's a luxury even now, after years of having it.

*+~

In another room, two levels up from Bucky and Steve, the kitchen smells heavenly of hot chocolate.

Clint “get the hell away from me with your fucking sleeves, they hinder my range of motion” Barton pads out of said kitchen, wearing three hoodies, fluffy socks and a long scarf wound around his neck while he carries two giant mugs of hot chocolate, rich, dark and creamy, with marshmallows on top. There is not one drop of caffeine in it – just pure, sweet comfort. He steers towards the couch, where Tony is wrapped in roughly a billion blankets. He looks up and happily reaches out to take one of the mugs from Clint, and he holds up a corner of the soft pile for him to crawl back under. Which he does, settling against Tony and they wrap their legs in a knot. He lets out a deep breath, and snuggles closer.

The cold hurts.

For Tony, it's mostly the fact that he carries a hunk of metal in his chest and it always cools down rapidly. It also takes up space that should be there for his lungs to expand, which makes breathing hard when he is sick, or anxious. The scars around it ache even after many years, like old injuries tend to do in bad weather.

Clint carries healed but hurting injuries as well. Some are very recent, some are over 30 years old. Those always act up when there is a storm, too.

But the chill and the snow also remind him of years on the run, when he was a kid or young teenager, curled up in the straw next to the elephants to seek out their warmth when there was no heating in the trailer. It reminds him of years on the run, where he had to make do with cheap, crappy motel rooms when he was lucky, and street corners when he wasn't. The cold reminds him of days on end spent in a snipers nest, both before and after he joined SHIELD. Most of all, the freezing temperatures remind him of being young, hurt, scared, tired and hungry.

Clint doesn't want to think too much about the fact that being in a place where he could afford to stay home on a cold day, or even having the luxury of a warm home, let alone any food or drinks his heart desires is so new. And so _nice_.

He's been used to being cold and alone, although it had bothered him, not that it mattered. But now, having a _place_ and having _people_... No, fuck that. He's way too tired and relaxed to get emotional about this now. He _won't_.

Instead, he finishes his drink and snuggles up closer together with his boyfriend.

It might be cold as balls outside, but things are good.

*+~

In the common room, Natasha is currently reading a cheesy romance novel that no one dares to make fun of. Even if they did, she'd just blame it on Clint.

Natasha, despite being Russian and claims to be immune against the cold, is wearing a thick turtleneck sweater over soft fleece leggings. And fuzzy socks – purple. They clash with her hair, but she loves the dang things. Natasha leans against Thor, who is like a living space heater, unaffected by the cold himself. He still likes to cuddle up under warm blankets, so that's what they do. On the other side of the couch, Bruce has tangled his legs with her, and he's wrapped up in many layers, seeking out his friends body heat under the blankets. He's reading, too – fiction, for once, and nothing work related. Thor is currently crocheting something that looks like it'll be a very big and fluffy sock. It's made of colorful wool that seems to contain an entire rainbow. He's content, happy and humming low into the otherwise quiet room.

When evening hits, the three of them chop up veggies and meat, which they turn into a thick and hearty stew for everyone, and call for their resident hermits when it's done.

After dinner, they pile up on the giant couch together, limbs tangled and with another batch of Clint's hot chocolate warming their hands while the frozen outside world grows darker and darker.


End file.
